Thursday, December 18, 2008

Cute Santa Ornament

Just in time for Christmas! A cute ornament or package tie-on that you can make! For this project, you'll need the following fabric strips and materials. Use WOF, or you could also use Fat Quarters - it would still make several. Especially for the face/beard areas, choose fabrics that will lend themselves to what these areas should represent, like white, beige, or brown for the face and something "beard-like" for the beard.

- One 9" strip of fabric for back of ornament, and since the top of the ornament (hat) is folded over, part will show on the front (red with white/olive green circles fabric in the picture)

- One 1" strip for the hat brim, and one 3" strip for the beard area (white with red squiggles fabric in the picture)

- One 1" strip for the face (plain white fabric in the picture)

- One 5 1/2" strip for the hat front (blue/red/white/green fabric in the picture)

- One 9" strip of medium weight fusible interfacing, non-woven or whatever you have on hand

Let's get started! Got your strips all ready?Sew the strips, using shortened stitch length and scant quarter-inch seams. Sew the front hat to the brim, and the face to the beard. Press seams, and then sew the front hat/brim section to the face/beard section. Press. Following the manufacturer's instructions, fuse the interfacing to the back fabric. Pin the pieced front to the interfaced back RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER - a few pins will do. Trace around the template (see the end of this tutorial for template) with your favorite marking took (I just use a regular pencil). Line up the horizontal lines on the template with the seam lines on the pieced section. If you are making more than one ornament, keep each traced unit 1/2" from each other. DO NOT CUT on the pencil line! Keeping the entire pinned sections together, sew around each Santa with a narrow stitch, right on the pencil line. Leave an opening in the middle of the hat area on one side so you can turn it rightside out. With a pair of small, sharp scissors, cut around the stitching line, leaving a 1/8" border, and a bit more at the opening area. Trim the corners to reduce bulk. Use your favorite tool for turning - I use a bamboo turner and point presser. Get all the little corners nice and flat. Press. You can slip a strip of Steam-A-Seam (or other double-sided fusible) in the opening to hold it shut. Fold the top of the hat to the front at a pleasing angle. After pressing, your Santa Ornament should look like this: Sew the "E" beads where the eyes should go on the white face area, and the jingle bell or pom-pom on the hat. Sew the ribbon/thread/yarn right where the hat angles, for a hanging loop. Ta-Da! You are done! If you do them assembly-line style, they really will go together quickly.

TEMPLATE: I wish I could have included a .pdf file of the template. But you will have to use my dimensions to create your own - sorry! I drew mine on paper and then used plastic template sheets to make a sturdier pattern (use a Sharpie permanent marker to draw the lines on the plastic). The dotted lines inside are just for visual reference so you'll know how tall and wide the template is at its tallest and widest points - you don't need to draw the dotted lines on your temlate.

4 comments:

Ooooo Nadine..This is awesome!Girl tis a good thing you don't live close by..I'd have ya hand cuffed to my dining room chair..We would be sewing together all the time:)Nadine!! , Wishing You and Your Family a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year(((Hugs)))Love, Sherrie

Sherrie - hahaha - handcuffed, eh? Well, as long as you fed me, that'd be ok I guess :-)Wow, what an excuse to just HAVE to sit and sew all day long! I'm wishing you and your family a Wonderful Christmas and All That Other Stuff, too :-) Love, Nadine

Handmade for the Holidays

Nadine's~Apronista

About Me

I knew I should take a break from "apron swapping" when I mailed a swap out and started to write my return addres (which SHOULD be "123 Apple Valley Rd") on the mailing package as "123 Apro..." LOL! I couldn't think of a name for my blog, but when I told the story to my son, Ben, he said I should call it Apron Valley Road, and of course, he was right!